LHFC February Newsletter

Latest newsletter is attached...a good read especially with the Lake Trout program. Also, the club is trying to organize an ice fishing trip with a bus leaving from Kincardine to Lake Simcoe - huts/bait etc included....open to everyone, members and non members alike. The contact information is in the letter.

Cheers
Mike



Lake Huron Fishing Club's Newsletter

February 2011

Incorporated 1983
P.O. Box 355, Southampton, Ontario, N0H 2L0

Club Website: www.lakehuronfishingclub.com

Derby Website: www.chantrychinook.com

Newsletter Website: http://64.177.125.54/LHFC/newsletter.htm

Previous Newsletter: http://64.177.125.54/LHFC/jannewsletter.htm

President’s Message

Prior to the European settlement of central Canada lake trout, whitefish and burbot dominated the Lake Huron main basin fish community. Since the opening of the Welland Canal in the early 1900's the fish community of Lake Huron has been in a constant state of flux as one foreign species after another has invaded and affected the ecosystems. Commercial overfishing in the middle of the 20th century, combined with the devastating effects of lamprey pretty well eliminated lake trout from the lake, except for a few isolated pockets.

Since the 1940's the Ministry of Natural Resources has been trying to rebuild lake trout in Lake Huron. The initial plants of fish were quickly destroyed by lamprey. The next attempt was with a hybrid fish called a splake. This cross between a speckled trout and lake trout was supposed to grow fast enough to reach breeding age before lamprey found and killed them. Unfortunately, splake did not appear to be able to breed successfully. Splake were artificially bred with pure lake trout to create a "backcross" in hopes that natural reproduction would be successful. The fish did not cooperate. The splake experiment ended in 1995 when the MNR decided to return to pure strain lake trout for stocking.

In 1995, the Great Lakes Fishery Commission (GLFC) issued a document called "Fish Community Objectives for Lake Huron". This guide stated that the goal for Lake Huron was to have a fish community dominated by lake trout as the top predator. The reasons for choosing lake trout were historical, ecological and biological. The objectives did allow for up to 30% of the predators to be salmon, rainbows and browns in an effort to appease sport fishermen.

Acting on the direction of the GLFC, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) created a "Lake Trout Rehabilitation Plan for Lake Huron" in 1996. Since the early 1990's the MNR has been pouring millions of pure strain lake trout into Lake Huron. Until recently there has been very limited success to this effort. The number of spawning age fish has not been increasing and there has been very little sign of natural reproduction. Analysis has indicated three major impediments to successful lake trout rehabilitation.

#1 - Commercial fishing is removing the large lake trout before they are reaching sexual maturity. While commercial fishermen are not supposed to, target lake trout they have a large incidental catch of trout while they are targeting whitefish. A gill net is indiscriminate in its harvest. Many tens of thousands of lake trout are reported caught annually and it is known that many more are just sent to the bottom.

#2 - In spite of lamprey control efforts by the GLFC there were still large numbers of lamprey in Lake Huron. These parasites were still killing adult lake trout in large numbers.

#3 - Alewife suppress lake trout reproductive success. The reason for this is twofold:

A: Adult alewife feed on baby lake trout.

B: lake trout feed on alewife but alewife have an enzyme in their flesh that interferes with the development of lake trout embryos.

In 1998 the St. Mary's rapids was successfully treated with lampricide for the first time. This river was the largest source of lamprey anywhere is the Great Lakes. Successive treatments over the next 3 years were predicted to reduce lamprey numbers in Lake Huron by 85%.

In 2004, the population of alewife in Lake Huron collapsed. The reason for this was a major disruption in the food chain caused by zebra and quagga mussels.

The last few years have shown that there is now some natural lake trout reproduction occurring in some areas of Lake Huron.

The MNR is now in the process of updating its Lake Trout Rehabilitation Plan for Lake Huron. Some of the modifications they propose are: increasing the density of lake trout stocking in most rehabilitation zones, terminating stocking in areas that have high sea lamprey wounding rates, changing stocking methods to place fish directly on spawning shoals, switching strains of stocked fish to native Lake Huron stock and encouraging commercial fishermen to switch to gear that is less likely to result in lake trout mortality.

The MNR have asked for input from the Lake Huron Fishing Club on their revised "Plan". I have talked with many of you about this and received thoughtful comments.

Some of the feedback I will be giving on behalf of this Club will include:

- We agree that now is the time to make a final push to try to get lake trout reproducing successfully in Lake Huron. The MNR has been trying for 70 years to do this and has spent millions of taxpayers' dollars in this effort.

Valuable hatchery capacity has been dedicated to this task that could be used to improve fisheries in other areas of the province or for other species. With alewife at very low numbers in the lake and lamprey control ongoing, if significant improvements in rehabilitation efforts are not seen then the rehabilitation efforts should be vastly scaled back.

- Stocking methods and stocking sites must be optimized to give the stocked fish the best chance of survival. Stocking hundreds of thousands of lake trout fingerlings in the middle of the day, off a pier with hundreds of seagulls and cormorants circling is a waste of hatchery production. Stocking from a boat or at night is common sense.

- Commercial fishing in lake trout rehabilitation zones must be either shut down completely or forced to switch to live capture gear i.e. trap nets. It makes absolutely no sense to allow commercial fishermen to gill net lake trout out of the waters as fast as the MNR is putting them in. The technology exists to prevent lake trout mortality in a whitefish commercial fishery. It is time that the MNR showed some backbone and stood up to the commercial fish industry in order to protect our fish resources.

Anglers on Lake Huron would much rather catch a salmon, rainbow trout or brown trout than a lake trout. Salmon numbers will remain depressed until alewife or smelt recover. There is no provincial hatchery space for more rainbow or brown trout. Lake trout is the focus for our MNR. Let us give it one last try to get lake trout self-producing and then move on. Al Wilkins President

Come Ice Fishing With Us!

The Lake Huron Fishing Club has organized an ice-fishing trip for our members and friends. On Saturday March 5th, a bus will be leaving Kincardine to take us for a day's fishing on Lake Simcoe.

Providing that we get enough interest, the cost will be $55.00, which includes the bus and ice hut rental. The bus will leave at 6:30 am and return by 9:00 pm.

We need to know the number of people going by February 19th. If interested please contact Carman Gazel @ 519-368-7118 or Wally Motz @ 519-395-0320 or email buffy1@tnt21.com.

Salmon Hatchery Report

The salmon fry are all on feed and growing. There has been no significant die off since hatch and things are running smoothly. They are gaining weight faster this year with the warmer water and the aeration system.

The trout are doing well also. Fin clipping is complete and they have been split into two rearing tanks to give them more room to grow. Garry

Trout Hatchery Report

Our browns and rainbows are doing great. The fact that the brown trout eggs got lost during shipment did not seem to affect their hatch. We are just starting them on feed now. Our yearling browns are beautiful fish that look ready for the fry pan. Hopefully, by the time you read this, our fin clipping of the rainbows will be complete. Again, this year it is an adipose fin clip. We have a good crew of volunteers caring for our fish but we can always use more help. If you want to get involved call Al Wilkins @ 519-396-9764.

Hatchery Manager Meeting

On February 19th, the Lake Huron Fishing Club will be hosting the 2nd annual meeting of CFWIP Hatchery Managers. This is a chance for the clubs that run volunteer fish hatcheries to get together for a day and talk informally about common issues and problems related to running volunteer hatcheries. This event is sponsored by the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters Zone H. We do not get much help from the Ministry of Natural Resources in running our hatcheries. Our best resource is each other. We are expecting representatives from our club, the Sydenham Sportsmen's Association, the Bluewater Anglers, Bayfield Anglers Association, Bruce Peninsula Sportsmen's Association, Georgian Triangle Anglers Association, and the Ontario Steelheaders to attend this meeting.

Next General Membership Meeting

The next membership meeting for the Lake Huron Fishing Club will be 7:30 pm March 10th at the Underwood Community Center.

Membership

Check your mailing label and if it is highlighted your membership is due. Fill out the form enclosed and mail it in.

Email members will receive another email reminding them of there need to renew for 2011. They can print a copy of the attached Membership Form and mail it in.

Asian Carp Legal Battle Continues in States
The State of Michigan has filed a notice of appeal from the first preliminary court ruling in a lawsuit to stop the advance of Asian carp into the Great Lakes, the office of Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox announced. Attorneys general from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio and Pennsylvania signed on to Michigan's notice, filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago.

On appeal is a Dec. 2, 2010 ruling that denied Michigan's motion for preliminary injunction.

The full story may be found at: http://www.examiner.com/legal-issues...sian-carp-case

Email Newsletter Vs Paper Mailing

Please consider receiving your Newsletter via email Vs the printed version. The electronic version, which may also be read on the internet, is a fantastic way to assist our Club in reducing operating costs.

If you wish to join the large number of members who have made the transition please email fish@lakehuronfishingclub.com. Thank you.

Chantry Chinook Classic Salmon Derby Update

The derby committee continues to work hard at making the 2011 derby another success. We are again aiming to generate the funds necessary to assist the Club in operating the fish hatcheries and other initiatives. It is hoped that the increased prizes will bring additional entrants thus increasing revenues.

Our chairman, Bob Greason is again at full pace following his accident resulting in a leg injury while fishing on the bank of the Saugeen River last fall.

Members of the committee are continuing to seek sponsors and advertisers for Hooked on Huron booklet. Both of these are of utmost importance to the success of the derby and to support the cash prizes and prize boards. We need to show our appreciation for the continued support of our sponsors by purchasing their products and services. Anyone who wishes to sponsor, advertise in the guidebook or knows someone who does should contact the chairman or visit the website.

A new derby logo has been designed and has been placed on the website. It will now be used for posters and promotional materials. Thanks to committee member Nick Toth, who spent countless hours putting together draft samples for review. Committee members supplied pictures of the salmon and lighthouse. The committee reviewed a number of versions prior to adopting the new design. The new logo features an Imperial Lighthouse, of which there are four located on Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. Two of these are within the derby boundaries located at Point Clark and Chantry Island.

A number of other changes are taking place for the derby this year including amalgamation of the Southampton and Port Elgin weigh stations. This is now known as the Saugeen Shores weigh station, located at the Port Elgin harbour. Considering the distances derby participants need to travel to the other weigh stations it seemed a little much to have two stations in such close proximity. There are fewer volunteers required, in addition to the cost savings from operating one station. These reduced costs are helping to offset the increased cash prizes offered to derby winners. With no weigh station in Southampton, tickets will now be sold during the derby at Martin’s Home Hardware in Southampton.

In 2010 there was a number of our ticket outlets who sold tickets during the derby, this is increased this year to include Southampton and Lambeth Rod and Tackle in London. There are slight changes to outlets selling tickets, including the addition of the Port Albert General Store.

New weigh scales have been purchased for the weigh stations and software upgrades are taking place using funds from the Trillium grant.

For up to date information visit our web site at www.chantrychinook.com

Lake Huron Fishing Club
P.O. Box 355
Southampton, Ontario N0H 2L0